I was appreciative that he was willing to do that—leave and allow Logan to gather his composure.
My mom, sister, and father were gone moments later, leaving me alone with my husband.
“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked softly. “We talked about this.”
And we had, a lot.
Ever since everything had gone down the night of the shooting, we’d talked so much that it felt like I knew everything there was to know about Logan Gibbs.
I knew when he was scared. I knew when he was pissed. I also knew when he was full of shit.
“We did,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t still be scared that I’m going to fuck this up.”
I smiled at that.
“Well, at least I’ll be at your side,” I said. “Dad told me that he left me at Walmart once when I was a baby.”
He blinked. “What?”
I nodded. “Got all the way to the gas station at the front of the lot when he realized I wasn’t with him.”
He smiled. “I really, really hope that I don’t do that.”
I doubled over when another pain hit me, this one so close to the other one that I knew it wasn’t going to be much longer.
“I need you to go get a nurse,” I told him. “And Jesus Christ, I feel like I’m on fire down there.”
He frowned. “You have an epidural. You shouldn’t be feeling anything.”
“Tell that to my contractions,” I said. “That bitch came in here and turned it off when you were in the bathroom. Apparently, they weren’t happy with my progress, and said that maybe it was my epidural that was hindering progress. Consequently, I agreed to have it turned down.”
He swallowed hard, then walked out of the room only to return moments later with a familiar face.
“Is it time?” Payton, one of my childhood friend’s mother, asked.
I nodded. “Feels like I’m burning from the inside out.”
Payton lifted my sheet and shook her head. “That would be because there’s a head coming out of your vagina. Jesus Christ, Katy. You were supposed to call us before you started delivering.”
Logan’s face blanched.
That was when I felt the urge to push.
***
“I can’t believe you had them in five minutes!” Rowen cried out. “I didn’t even get to take a picture.”
“Thank God for that,” I muttered as the doctor stitched me up.
“Amen,” my father agreed. “I love you, kid, but I wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable with being in here when you were delivering.”
I didn’t care what he wanted, which was why he was there even when he didn’t want to be.
I’d had them put a screen up so he wouldn’t see anything vital.
I just had wanted my dad there. Was that so wrong?
“Well,” the doctor said as she patted my thigh. “You’re as good as new. That’s going to hurt for sure, but I don’t see that it’ll be that much of a nuisance past a couple of days. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
I smiled at my doctor, who’d been with me since the conception of the two little cuties in their father’s arms.
“Thank you,” I said tiredly.
“Yes, thank you,” Logan croaked.
“I love seeing big, bad alpha males melt at the sight of their kids.” She winked. “Did good, girl. See you later.”
With that, my doctor left, and my nurse covered me up after replacing the sheet underneath of me.
Child birthing was messy business.
“Is it safe to come out now?” my father asked.
“She’s all covered, Grandpa!” Payton crowed.
Dad made a gagging sound. “We’re going to have to come up with a better word for me.”
My mother snickered as she resumed her earlier seat. My father emerged from behind the screen, and my brother, who’d come in at some point and not announced himself, walked over to the twins.
“They look nothing like you,” Derek lied to Logan.
Logan snorted. “They have my hair, my eyes, my nose, and my mouth. They even have my ears. There’s no doubt that they’re mine.”
Derek sighed. “You’re right. Can I hold one?”
“No,” Logan denied.
“What about me?” Dad asked.
Logan sighed. “I guess.”
That was when Derek took one baby, and Dad took the other.
My mother came over and started taking pictures.
Logan stood up and made his way to me, sweeping my sweaty hair out from my face.
“You want me to grab you anything while I run to the car for their bags?” he asked.
“McDonald’s?” I teased.
He winked. “I’m already taking care of that. Paydon’s on his way up here with food.”
I did a small fist pump. “Best man ever!”
Paydon walked in moments later, Gibby in his arms.
“Congrats, dude!” Paydon exclaimed the moment he breached the doorway.
I grinned at the man that I’d come to adore since he’d come into my life a little over a year before.
“Thanks, Pay-Pay,” I teased.
Pay-Pay was Gibby’s way of calling Paydon daddy.
Over the last year, she’d come to really love Paydon, but since she was still kind of confused on her parenting situation seeing as Paydon, Nina, and Darius were always there, she called people by their names instead of ‘Mom,’ ‘Dad’ and ‘Grandma/Grandpa.’